Marlies Battle Back to Force Shootout

Game Recap

The Toronto Marlies erased a 5-2 deficit in the second period of a thrilling contest in Cleveland Friday night, picking up a point in an eventual shootout loss to the Monsters.

Cleveland opened the scoring just 1:25 into the game to kick off a fast and frantic first frame, with Dmytro Timashov tying things up four minutes later on a long point shot through traffic. Timashov’s third of the season was assisted by Andreas Borgman and Adam Cracknell.

The Marlies grabbed the lead minutes later when Adam Brooks flipped a puck high in the air and Trevor Moore raced after it, beating two Monsters’ defencemen to break in alone and score on the chance. Borgman had the secondary assist.

From there, Cleveland answered back with three straight goals in the first scored by Eric Robinson, Brett Gallant and Kevin Stunlund to take a 4-2 lead into the intermission.

Dalpe scored his second of the night just over a minute into the second period and the Marlies found themselves facing a 5-2 deficit.

Josh Jooris cut into the lead after Pierre Engvall made a great play at the top of the slot and found Jooris all alone out front to tap in the puck. Timothy Liljegren had the secondary assist.

The Marlies continued pressing and converted on a power play chance just past the midway mark of the second as Sam Gagner got a piece of a point shot from Liljegren. Chris Mueller picked up the secondary helper.

Less than three minutes later, Adam Brooks, playing in his first game of the season, corralled a loose puck, spun at the top of the circle and fired it home to tie things up heading into the third. Moore and Mason Marchment had the helpers on Brooks’ equalizer.

Dalpe completed his hat trick at the 3:11 mark of the third and the Marlies again found themselves behind, but a laser from Rasmus Sandin with 3:39 to go tied the game yet again and forced overtime. Jeremy Bracco and Carl Grundstrom contributed to Sandin’s second with assists.

Overtime solved nothing and the two teams went to a shootout, where Nathan Gerbe scored the winner for the Monsters.

The Marlies move to 4-4-0-2 on the season and have now earned at least a point in five straight games, while Cleveland improve to 7-3-1-0 for a share of first in the North Division.

Eamon McAdam entered the game for the Marlies in the second period and stopped 22 of 23 shots in his first AHL appearance this season. Brad Thiessen, who entered the game in relief of Matiss Kivlenieks, made 14 saves on 15 shots for the Monsters.

Both teams went 1-for-3 on the power play.

The Marlies will now have another week between games as the Royal road trip continues next Friday in the first of back-to-back meetings in Belleville.

Dmytro Timashov scored at 5:29 of the first period. Timashov has six points (3 goals, 3 assists) in 10 games this season.

Trevor Moore scored at 9:08 of the first period and recorded the secondary assist on Brooks’ second period goal. Moore leads the Marlies and is tied for second in the AHL in goals (8). This is Moore’s fourth multi-point game of the season.

Josh Jooris scored at 8:16 of the second period. Jooris has three points (1 goal, 2 assists) in 10 games this season.

Sam Gagner scored on the power play at 11:37 of the second period. This is Gagner’s second power play goal of the season. Gagner has nine points (5 goals, 4 assists) in 10 games this season.

Adam Brooks scored at 14:29 of the second period and registered the primary assist on Moore’s first period goal. This was Brooks’ first game of the season.

Rasmus Sandin scored the tying goal at 16:21 of the third period. Sandin has two goals in his first two games with the Marlies.

Andreas Borgman recorded the primary assist on Timashov’s goal and the second assist on Moore’s goal, both in the first period. This is Borgman’s first multi-point game of the season.

Adam Cracknell registered the secondary assist on Timashov’s first period goal. Cracknell has seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) in 10 games this season.

Pierre Engvall had the primary assist on Jooris’ second period goal. Engvall has six points (3 goals, 3 assists) in eight games this season.

Timothy Liljegren recorded the secondary assist on Jooris’ second period goal and the primary assist on Gagner’s second period power play goal.

Chris Mueller registered the secondary assist on Gagner’s second period power play goal. Mueller leads the Marlies in power play points with five (1 goal, 4 assists).

Mason Marchment had the primary assist on Brooks’ second period goal. Marchment has three points (1 goal, 2 assists) in five games this season.

Jeremy Bracco recorded the primary assist on Sandin’s third period goal.

Carl Grundstrom registered the secondary assist on Sandin’s third period goal. Grundstrom has nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) in eight games this season.

Jeff Glass stopped 5 of 9 shots he faced before leaving early in the second period. Glass is now 3-2-0-1 on the season with a .876 Save Percentage and a 3.52 Goals Against Average. Eamon McAdam replaced Glass, stopping 22 of 23 shots he faced in his first game with the Toronto Marlies. McAdam now has a .957 Save Percentage and a 1.37 Goals Against Average.

On tonight’s game:
I don’t think anything that went on in the game today had to do with their team. We just weren’t ready to play in the hockey game and that’s on me as the coach and the coaching staff. We weren’t ready to play today. We took steps backward. In that regard, we looked more like we looked a few weeks back. It was very disappointing.

On Adam Brooks’ return to the lineup:
I thought that line especially as we got going in the second and third period, that line was dominant. That was a real positive for us. That was a great sign. Obviously, we need to have more than one line if we’re going to have successes as a team but definitely, it was nice to have Adam back today.

Game Preview

Halloween may be over but it’s a meeting with the Monsters for the Marlies, who kick off a five-game road trip Friday night in Cleveland.

The Marlies (4-4-0-1) are riding a three-game winning streak coming into play, and have earned at least a point in four straight. In their only meeting of the season, the Marlies lost 5-3 to the Monsters back on October 8.

Cleveland (6-3-1-0) bounced back with a win over Rockford in their last game, snapping a two-game skid.

After finding themselves in offensive shootouts to start the season, the Marlies have clamped down of late, allowing only four goals combined in their past three games. They still sit tied for sixth in the league in total goals with 35 on the season.

Trevor Moore is leading the charge of lighting the lamp with seven goals in nine games so far, plus three assists for 10 points in the early going.

Four players are tied for the second spot in team scoring, with Sam Gagner (4G, 4A), Carl Grundstrom (3G, 5A), Chris Mueller (3G, 5A) and Calle Rosen (1G, 7A) all with eight points.

At the other end, Zac Dalpe has led the Monsters offensively this season with 11 points (7G, 4A) in 10 games.

On special teams, the Marlies will look to continue finding success on the power play, especially on the road. Toronto has converted on 28.6% of power play opportunities when away from home this season, while Cleveland’s penalty kill has stopped 78.9% of shorthanded situations at home.

The Monsters’ power play has struggled to get going this year, converting on just 8.8% of chances. At home, Cleveland is 1-for-16 on the power play so the Marlies will look to limit opportunities when shorthanded tonight, entering with a 80.0% success rate on the penalty kill.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM and fans can catch all the action on AHLTV.